"One would think that economists would by now have already developed a solid grip
on how financial bubbles form and how to measure and compare them. This is not the case.
Despite the thousands of articles in the professional literature and the
millions of times that the word "bubble" has been used in the business press,
there still does not appear to be a cohesive theory or persuasive empirical approach with
which to study bubble and crash conditions.
" This book presents what is meant to be a plausible and accessible
descriptive theory and empirical approach to the analysis of such financial market
conditions. It advances this framework through application of standard econometric methods
to its central idea, which is that financial bubbles reflect urgent short side - rationed
demand. From this basic idea, an elasticity of variance concept is developed. The notion
that easy credit provides fuel for bubbles is supported. It is further shown that a
behavioral risk premium can probably be measured and related to the standard equity
risk-premium models in a way that is consistent with conventional theory.
Table of Contents
Pt. I Background for analysis
Ch. 1 Introduction
Ch. 2 Bubble stories
Ch. 3 Random walks
Ch. 4 Bubble theories
Ch. 5 Framework for investigation
Pt. II Empirical features and results
Ch. 6 Bubble basics
Ch. 7 Bubble dynamics
Ch. 8 Money and credit features
Ch. 9 Behavioral risk features
Ch. 10 Crashes, panics, and chaos
Ch. 11 Financial asset bubble theory
App. A Methodological details for finding bubbles
App. B Observation lookup table
App. C Damodaran annual statistics
Glossary
References
Index
358 pages, Hardcover